[Douglas_of_Sweden]

How many of you are waiting for the K-7?
What is the first you will shoot with it?

Mine is due next week...


These are waiting eagerly...

...but there are ways to spend the time.

[Ash]

That's your ltd collection ready to buddy up with the K-7?
Nice stuff.
Post some of your results with these when it arrives!

[mel]

nice little family you have there. jealous.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

That's your ltd collection ready to buddy up with the K-7?
Nice stuff.
Post some of your results with these when it arrives!

I sure will. Put some shots recently with the DA15 on Javiers "street shooting"-thread...with the K20D so far, but that will soon change.

nice little family you have there. jealous.

Only missing a big brother: a longer limited prime somewhere in the area 90-105mm would be good. I've been carrying around the Super Takumar 105mm f2.8 as a fourth lens this past summer, and it worked well, and is really compact. I'd like a APS-C equivalent of a compact film 135mm lens, perhaps with the SMC Pentax-M 135mm f3.5 as inspiration.

Then the jump from 15 to 35 is a bit long, so maybe I would fancy the DA21ltd some day. But carrying three lenses, one on the camera body, two on my body, is what I'm really comfortable with when I'm going without bag.

Then sometimes the ltd's are too slow. The FA35mm f2, FA50mm f1.4, A*85mm f1.4 and A*135mm 1.8 are good to choose from, but (especially on APS-C) I'm still missing something shorter than 35mm and at least f2 or faster. Not much to choose from there.

Anyway, drifted away from the subject. What I'm going to do first with the K-7? Put one of the ltd's on the camera and the other two ltd's in my pockets and carry them with me everywhere for a while, at work, on the road, on the streat...to see what I can catch.

What will you do? Or what did you do, in case you have got one already?

[KFrog]

I'm going to have a long wait for a K7 I'm afraid. Just have to wait for a price drop.

I like the collection you have there. I don't have any Limited lenses but I did rent the 35mm Ltd. Macro a while back and I just loved it. I wanted to pick one up but the $$$ was a bit much. That's when I turned to Takumars. I now have eight in my collection.

Takumar Collection on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

For what I've spent on them I might have been able to get two Limiteds . I still want at least one though...

[pcarfan]

I'm going to have a long wait for a K7 I'm afraid. Just have to wait for a price drop.

I like the collection you have there. I don't have any Limited lenses but I did rent the 35mm Ltd. Macro a while back and I just loved it. I wanted to pick one up but the $$$ was a bit much. That's when I turned to Takumars. I now have eight Takumar Collection on Flickr - Photo Sharing! in my collection and for what I've spent on them I might have been able to get two Limiteds

How do you like the 135/2.5? (sorry for the hijack). Which are your favorites?

[the swede]

Old lenses with the K-7 is realy fun! And it looks good. I think the K-7 looks kinda retro. It would be realy interesting to se if they continued on that path making the next body even more edgy but maintainin the comfortable grip.

To keep topic: The first thing i tried with my K-7 was my mothers old Chinon 50 1,9. It works great and so easy to meter with the green button.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

I like the collection you have there. I don't have any Limited lenses but I did rent the 35mm Ltd. Macro a while back and I just loved it. I wanted to pick one up but the $$$ was a bit much. That's when I turned to Takumars. I now have eight in my collection.

Takumar Collection on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

For what I've spent on them I might have been able to get two Limiteds . I still want at least one though...

This makes a lot of sence. The feeling you get from the limiteds and the takumars have a lot in common: build quality and small size. When I've been carying the Super Tak 105mm with me as a 4th limited they fit so well together that I have to remind me that it has not autofocus.

If you are to pick one limited, the DA35 is probably a good choise. It is as sharp at infinity as it is as a macro and work well as a general normal lens, with the limitations of the speed, but it is still faster than a kit zoom. The 70ltd is not the best portrait lens I've used, but it is certainly the most portrait IQ per kilogram I've ever had. Amazingly small and with a angle of view like a 105mm on a film camera. The 21 is still a wow experience since I've not had it for so long.

Given that the K-7 is supposed to speed up screw drive focus a lot I'm really interested in how these lenses will behave on this new body.

How do you like the 135/2.5? (sorry for the hijack). Which are your favorites?

Pentax have built 135mm lenses with 8 different optical solutions with numerous cosmetical, auto-connection, or coating versions since m37 over m42 to K, KA and FA mounts.

I would rate the Pentax/Takumar lenses that I have used enough to judge according to optical performance:

1) SMC Pentax-A* 135mm f1.8 (7:6 lenses)
2) SMC Pentax 135mm f2.5 = SMC Takumar 135mm f2.5 (6:6 lenses)
3) SMC Pentax-FA 135mm f2.8 = SMC Pentax-F 135mm f2.8 (8:7 lenses) (only with AF, but very fast AF)
4) SMC Pentax-M 135mm f3.5 (5:5 lenses) (the smallest K if this is your priority)
5) SMC Pentax 135mm f3.5 = SMC Takumar 135mm f3.5 = Super Takumar 135mm f3.5 (4:4 lenses)
6) SMC Pentax-A 135mm f2.8 = Takumar (bayonett) 135mm f2.5 = Takumar bayonett 135mm f2.8 (4:4 lenses, different configuration)

Note that there are SMC Taks/Super-Taks 135mm f2.5 with a 5:4 lens congifuration, which I don't know how they rate. The early Takumar 135mm f3.5 where a 5:4 solution.

So I recon you ask about number 2 on this list. Yes, that is a very nice lens, and I use it quite a lot when I don't dare to cary around the 20 times more expensive A*. You can find a set on my flickr with pictures with this lens if you are interrested.

Old lenses with the K-7 is realy fun! And it looks good. I think the K-7 looks kinda retro. It would be realy interesting to se if they continued on that path making the next body even more edgy but maintainin the comfortable grip.

To keep topic: The first thing i tried with my K-7 was my mothers old Chinon 50 1,9. It works great and so easy to meter with the green button.

I've heard that the stop down meetering with the K-7 is more exact (less need for exposure compensation), than with previous cameras. Can you confirm?

[pcarfan]

Thanks. So, you do rate the SMC tak 135/2.5 higher than the F/FA 135/2.8. How do you tell the SMA taks 135/2.5 6:6 from the 5:4 variant ?..thanks. Also, are these M42 or K mount. Thanks.

[Digitalis]

I got mine a few days ago... Ever since firmware version 1.01 release fixed some of the egregious image quality bloopers, I'm glad to say the K-7 is an improvement over the K10D. and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone, and yes, the FA77 ltd is a killer lens on the K-7.

[knoxploration]

I'm waiting on my just-ordered K7 here too - oh, the excitement! I'm a new Pentax shooter, and I'm starting off with the kit lenses to stay within my budget for now. Also got the portrait grip and Pentax remote. Once my budget allows, I'll start considering some of the other lenses - particularly interested in the pancakes to go with the relatively compact body.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Thanks. So, you do rate the SMC tak 135/2.5 higher than the F/FA 135/2.8. How do you tell the SMA taks 135/2.5 6:6 from the 5:4 variant ?..thanks. Also, are these M42 or K mount. Thanks.

Optically, yes. But the F/FA 135/2.8 is also a damn atractive lens because it has one of the fastest screwdrive autofocus implementations. It is much more difficult to rate them if you take all factors in consideration: optical quality, A connections, AF, size. That's why I pointed out that the F/FA version climbes if you need autofocus and the M version if you want minima size.

All the lenses named Takumar except the Takumar bayonets are m42 (except the first Takumar 135mm which was m37). The lenses named "SMC Pentax..." + the lenses named "Takumar bayonette" are K mounts. The Takumar bayonettes are low budget lenses made in a different factory and without the SMC coating. Probably single coated or with an older multi-coating. Their optical formulla is not that good either which is obvious when you see that the SMC Pentax-A 135mm which has SMC does not do so well either.
The first m42 135mm f2.5 5:4 manifestation is a super-Takumar (non-SMC) lens and cannot be confused with the 6:6 version. But then from 1971-72 it was made with SMC and labelled "SMC Takumar..." or "Super-Multi-Coating Takumar..." (I have seen both). This can be confused with the "SMC/Super-Multi-Coated..." 6:6 version which was in production from 1973. The easiest way to separate them over say e-bay would be to ask the seller for the parts number. If I remember correctly this should be 43801 (non-SMC 5:4 f2.5 m42), 43802 (SMC 5:4 f2.5 m42) and 43812 (SMC 6:6 f2.5 m42) and 23840 (SMC 6:6 f2.5 K mount). For the m42 lenses, the parts number is usually printed on the side of the switch for manual/automatic apperture. Hope this is of some help. Depending on how you want to shoot, the m42 6:6 version might even be preferable from the K mount version because you can work in apperture priority on the DSLRs. I use my K mount 135/2.5 primarily on the KX/MX/LX bodies.

I got mine a few days ago... Ever since firmware version 1.01 release fixed some of the egregious image quality bloopers, I'm glad to say the K-7 is an improvement over the K10D. and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone, and yes, the FA77 ltd is a killer lens on the K-7.

That sounds like a good combo. What are you shooting with the FA77? How much faster do you feel the AF is with this lens, on the K-7 I mean?

I'm waiting on my just-ordered K7 here too - oh, the excitement! I'm a new Pentax shooter, and I'm starting off with the kit lenses to stay within my budget for now. Also got the portrait grip and Pentax remote. Once my budget allows, I'll start considering some of the other lenses - particularly interested in the pancakes to go with the relatively compact body.

Don't be too sorry, the kit lens are a surprisingle good lens, and now you get it weather proof also. I don't have the 50-200 myself, but my mother does, and for the small size it appears to be a good lens too. And now that one is also WR!

[pcarfan]

Thank you.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Thank you.

Your welcome!
Planing to buy a 135mm?

[pcarfan]

Your welcome!
Planing to buy a 135mm?

No, I have the F 135/2.8 which i love very much. Saw the 135/2.5 in the marketplace, and have seen some nice shots at times with the 135/2.5...and I now think those shots were from the M42. It was just a bout of LBA, and I have snapped out of it for now....F135/2.8 is incredible, and I really don't need another.